Poonch terror attack: Like father, Moga soldier dies on duty, leaves toddlers behind
Mandar Singh, Kulwant's stepfather who had married Harjinder Kaur after Baldev Singh's death, said, “Kulwant was a toddler when Baldev Singh had died in the line of duty in Kargil and now...”
Born in 1991, Kulwant hailed from Charik village in Punjab's Moga district. (Express Photo)
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Lance Naik Kulwant Singh had joined the Army to improve family’s financial conditions but also because he idolised his late father, Baldev Singh, also a soldier who had died in the line of duty in Jammu & Kashmir.
Recalling the chilling similarities, his mother, Harjinder Kaur, said, “Kulwant was just over a year old when his father had died…. Today, my son has met the same fate…. I am proud that my son is a shaheed (martyr), but who will take care of his children, who are toddlers themselves?”
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Born in 1991, Kulwant hailed from Charik village in Punjab’s Moga district. He had joined the Army a decade ago. His wife Hardeep Kaur and children – 18-month-old daughter Armandeep and five-month old son Fatehveer — survive him.
Hardeep said, “Apne bachheyan de sar tey hi jiungi, hor ki karungi (What else I will do now but live for my kids)…. My children are too small to understand what has happened. We got married three years ago…everything is finished for us.”
Sukhdeep Singh, Kulwant’s stepbrother, said his brother loved his children immensely and was always worried for them. “Yesterday, when I spoke with him (over the phone), he asked me to ensure that his son gets his vaccines on time.”
Mandar Singh, Kulwant’s stepfather who had married Harjinder Kaur after Baldev Singh’s death, said, “Kulwant was a toddler when Baldev Singh had died in the line of duty in Kargil and now…”
Divya Goyal is a Principal Correspondent with The Indian Express, based in Punjab.
Her interest lies in exploring both news and feature stories, with an effort to reflect human interest at the heart of each piece. She writes on gender issues, education, politics, Sikh diaspora, heritage, the Partition among other subjects. She has also extensively covered issues of minority communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan. She also explores the legacy of India's partition and distinct stories from both West and East Punjab.
She is a gold medalist from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi, the most revered government institute for media studies in India, from where she pursued English Journalism (Print). Her research work on “Role of micro-blogging platform Twitter in content generation in newspapers” had won accolades at IIMC.
She had started her career in print journalism with Hindustan Times before switching to The Indian Express in 2012.
Her investigative report in 2019 on gender disparity while treating women drug addicts in Punjab won her the Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitivity in 2020. She won another Laadli for her ground report on the struggle of two girls who ride a boat to reach their school in the border village of Punjab.
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